1

Nonfiction Analysis:
Reading and Writing Activity

by
Constance D. Casserly
(Aligned with the Common Core Standards and
Bloom’s Taxonomy)

Copyright © 2013 Constance D. Casserly All rights reserved by author.

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Nonfiction Analysis: Reading and Writing

Teacher Notes
Students will learn to:
• Differentiate between types of articles
• Select and defend facts from opinion
• Take for specific information notes on articles
• Turn notes into a ten sentence summary of the article.
• Turn ten sentence summary into a complete essay.
• Use all of the types of thinking skills detailed on Bloom’s Taxonomy wheel/chart
• Meet Common Core Standards for Nonfiction Reading Comprehension and for Writing.
Common Core Standards: College and Career Readiness Anchor
Standards, grades 6-12
Reading: R1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10
Writing: W1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10
Speaking & Listening: SL2, 3, 4,
Language: L1, 2, 3, 4, 6
Bloom’s Taxonomy
• Remember/Understand: describe, expand, explain, identify
• Apply: construct, record, compose
• Analyze: infer, differentiate, distinguish, determine
• Evaluate: discuss, conclude, give your opinion, justify
• Create: imagine, hypothesize, compose, and produce
Who: Teachers identify: grade level, ability levels, and special-needs students.
What: Students will read nonfiction texts from a variety of informational sources that will allow
them to develop their thinking skills from Remembering/understanding through Application,
Analysis and Evaluation through Creation.
When: This activity should be included in lessons a minimum of once a week. See suggestions
below.
Why: Students will develop their thinking and reading comprehension proficiencies, will learn to
differentiate between fact and opinion in thinking and in writing, and will strengthen their
analytical writing and their written language skills.
How:
• Introduce this activity by handing out and discussing the Nonfiction Analysis: Reading
and Writing direction sheet, one Nonfiction Analysis: Reading and Writing Worksheet
and one Ten Sentence Format sheet.
• Keep a stack of analysis sheets and Ten Sentence Format sheets available to students for
days that you include this activity.
• Keep a stack of newspapers, magazines and texts that include essays and other
nonfiction writing for students to choose an article to read. If possible, have computers
available for students to select on-line articles. If this isn’t an option, inform students a
day or so before they will be assigned this activity so they can go to the various online
article sites and download an article that catches their interest.
• Students are to read their chosen article, to take notes and to write a ten sentence
summary of the piece using their notes. Lesson Options:
1. Students can read the article ahead of time and use the class time to take notes
and write the summary (20-30 minutes, depending on skill levels).
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2. Students can do all of the reading, note-taking and writing in class (50-60
minutes).
3. Students can do all of the reading, note-taking and writing for a homework
assignment.
• Periodically, students must turn one of their summaries into a full-length essay by
expanding each Main idea w/supporting details sentences into separate paragraphs (See
Ten Sentence Format sheet)
• Students should include citation information, i.e. magazine example: Author. “Article
title.” Publication day month year: page(s). on each analysis sheet for future reference.
More:
• Suggestions for teaching:
1. Warm-ups up to three times per week
2. Whole period activity once a week
3. Homework assignments once or twice a week
• Grading and Storage:
1. You may grade the analysis worksheets on a 50 point scale (up to 5 points for
each analytic item), give a plus, check plus, check or minus for the work
completion, dependent of the depth and quality of the notes, or choose a
grading option that you prefer.
2. Have students keep their graded activities in a folder in the classroom so they
will be available when they need to choose one to expand into a full-length
essay.
Frequency and length of writing segment will depend on students’ abilities, proficiencies and
needs for any and all skills: reading comprehension, thinking and writing.

Activity Plus: Although all programs of study require core whole-class nonfiction readings, as
often as possible, students should choose nonfiction informational reading that hooks their
personal interest. The kids will be more inclined to want to read a topic of their choice
(ownership) which will lead to the desire to express their thoughts and interpretations clearly
and coherently. Their reading and writing proficiencies will blossom and solidify. This is a win-
win teaching/learning idea for teachers and students.

Copyright © 2013 Constance D. Casserly All rights reserved by author.

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Nonfiction Analysis: Reading and Writing

Directions: When this activity is assigned, choose an article to read from any of these sources, or
others that the teacher recommends. After you finish reading, fill out the Nonfiction Analysis:
Reading and Writing Worksheet. Finally, write a summary of your findings on the Ten Sentence
Format sheet, using information from your notes. Choose from:
Types of Articles
1. Hard News: Who, what, when, where, why, how article (Factual): News Writers and
Columnists for Local, state, National and International news.
2. Feature (Factual and opinion): News, Feature Writers, Columnists
3. Sports (Factual and Opinion): News, Feature Writers and Columnists
4. Interpretive/Investigative (Factual)
5. Opinion article (Factual and Opinion): Editorials, Columnists, and Letters to the Editor
6. How-to article (Factual)
7. Round-up/Summary article (Factual)
8. Profile article (Factual and Opinion)
9. Review (Factual and Opinion): i.e. Movies, Television, Books, Theatre, Fashion, Concerts
10. Business/Finance (Factual and Opinion): News, Feature Writers and Columnists
11. Expository Essay
12. Narrative Nonfiction Essay
13. Other
Publications
Newspapers
1. Local
2. Regional
3. State
4. National
5. International
Magazines
1. General Interest
2. News
3. Science/Nature
4. Hobbies/Leisure-time activities
5. Regional
6. Ethnic
7. Cultural/Artistic
8. Self-Improvement
9. Religious
10. Men’s
11. Women’s
12. Teen/Young Adult
13. Juvenile
14. Literary/Little
15. Trade Journals
16. Educational
17. Travel
18. Food
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19. Fashion
20. Miscellaneous
Online Sources
1. http://kellygallagher.org/resources/articles.html
2. http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/
3. Other
Texts
1. Class anthologies
2. Teacher-chosen texts
3. Student-chosen Texts
4. Other

Copyright © 2013 Constance D. Casserly All rights reserved by author.

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 6

Nonfiction Analysis: Reading and Writing Worksheet

Name_____________________________________
Directions: Completely address the following points regarding the piece that you read.
Source:
1. Newspaper ______________________________________________________________
Article Type ___________________By-line _____________________________________
2. Magazines _______________________________________________________________
Article Type ___________________By-line _____________________________________
3. Online__________________________________________________________________
Article Type ___________________By-line _____________________________________
4. Essay ___________________________________________________________________
Article Type ___________________Writer _____________________________________
Publisher _______________________________________ Date ____________________
5. Other ___________________________________________________________________
Article Type ___________________By-line _____________________________________
Citation Information _____________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Headline/Title __________________________________________________________________
Story Idea______________________________________________________________________
Story Type _____________________________________________________________________
Analysis:
1. State the MAIN POINT or PURPOSE of the story?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
2. List the facts found in chronological order (5-10, depending on the length of the piece)
1. ____________________________________________________________________
2. ____________________________________________________________________
3. ____________________________________________________________________
4. ____________________________________________________________________
5. ____________________________________________________________________
6. ____________________________________________________________________
7. ____________________________________________________________________
8. ____________________________________________________________________
9. ____________________________________________________________________
10. ____________________________________________________________________
3. Explain the writer’s slant (opinion) about the subject matter:
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
4. Copy the opinion words that show the writer’s slant.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
5. What are two points that need to be developed? How could the writer add this depth?
A. ____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
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B. ____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
6. Suggest two probable reader reactions:
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
7. What information might a reader still want?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
8. Suggest a solution or course of action, if needed.
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
9. Give the full names of up to three people who were quoted, and their area of expertise
or the reason the writer included their facts/opinions.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
10. Where will you complete any research for background or information about the topic?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

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 8

TEN SENTENCE FORMAT

25 Point total (point value for each sentence in parentheses)
Directions: Use the notes that you took after reading the nonfiction piece to write a ten
sentence summary that shows your understanding and analysis of the article.

Topic _________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Hook __________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________(1)
Overview Statement _____________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________(1)
Thesis statement ________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________(3)
Main Idea 1 ____________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________(3)
Supporting Detail #1 w/example ___________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________(2)
Main Idea 2 ____________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________(3)
Supporting Detail #2 w/example ___________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________(2)
Main Idea 3 ____________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________(3)
Supporting Detail #3 w/example ___________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________(2)
Concluding Statement ___________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________(5)

Copyright © 2013 Constance D. Casserly All rights reserved by author.

Copying for more than one teacher, classroom, department, school, or school system is prohibited.